Ornamental paper manufacture



June 11, 1940. F, v. L OFGREN 2,204,141

1 ORNAMENTAL PAPER MANUFACTURE Filed Dec. 24, "1956 OIL5EED FLOUROILSEED FLOUR 50A SOAP conurrloumc. AGENT (,ONDTIONINQ GENT .PIGMENTFIGMISNT f, F J

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INVENTOR.

Patented June 11, 1940 PATENT oFF cE ORNAMENTAL PAPER MANUFACTUREFrederick V. Lofgren, Valparaiso, Ind., assignor to Glenn Davidson,Aurora, Ill.

Application December 24, 1936, Serial No. 117,529

11 Claims.

This invention relates to ornamental fabric manufacture, and moreparticularly fabric of the character adapted to decoration of walls andsurfaces to be covered. Customarily, wall paper is manufactured by firstapplying to the raw paper stock a layer of finely divided mineralmatter, as kaolin or clay and desired coloring pigments, these beingheld together and held onto the stock by a binder, the mixture beingapplied in aqueous suspension and being mechanically smoothed out to aneven layer. Then, either before or after this layer, termed in the tradethe ground is allowed to dry, the finishing designs are superimposedupon it by printing with aqueous inks, which are in general similar incomposition to the first layer in that they usually contain clay,pigments and adhesive. .The adhesive used is, of course, dissolved ordispersed in water or an alkalin solution before being mixed with theclay and other pigments. Animal glue, casein, and starch, have been usedfor some time in the industry. Each, of these has presented particulardimculties and limitations in usage, restricting their application andresults. In accordance with the present invention however, ornamentalfabric manufacture becomes feasible with a range of applicability andimproved results not heretofore possible, and with such material asoleaginous seed flours as for instance soya bean flour, peanut, cottonseed, hemp seed, castor bean, lupine, and the like.

There are on the market at present two general classifications of wallpaper. The first is non-washable wall paper, and the second washablewall paper. These classifications, are, in addition, of course tovarnished, lacquered and other modified types of decorative paper. Inthe case of the non-washable wall paper, one or two strokes of a wetsponge will ordinarily remove entirely the design and ground coat,leaving the raw stock exposed. Washable wall paper, to be consideredsatisfactory must be capable of withstanding fifty and preferably onehundred strokes of a wet sponge without showing any appreciable effecton either the design or the ground. The non-washable wall paper is mostcommonly made up with a starch binder. The washable wall paper has inthe past particularly been made up with animal glue or casein, anddepending particularly upon special hardening treatment for suchwashable properties as they were able to attain. The present inventionis directed, in part, to securing superior washing qualities in washablewall paper and the like.

With such a material as soya bean flour there has been inherently a lackof desirable fluidity for a process of applying colors and designs. tothe extent that a printing mixture did not smooth out as readily asmixtures made up with animal glue, casein, etc., and printed designs hada tendency to appear rough and uneven. It is to- 5 ward the eliminationof these difficulties also, that the present invention is directed.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends,'the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described, andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawing setting forth in detail certain illustrativeembodiments of the invention, these being indicative however, of but r afew of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may beemployed.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of an ornamental fabric in accordancewith the invention; and Fig. 2 is a section on line 11-11 withenlargement of details for clarity.

The oil seed flour, such as soya bean flour is made up with otheringredients. among which is water glass. Although water glass has beensuccessfully employed in the relatively thick glues H customary inplywood and veneer practice, it has been impossible'heretofore toincorporate water glass into any such mixture for application in thewall paper industry, for the reason that if added to a dispersion of oilseed flour in an aqueous medium, the mixture tends to change inconsistency and thicken, precluding usage by wall paper printing rollermachinery. I have now made the surprising discovery however that ifwater glass is introduced after incorporation of clay, instead of addingthe water glass to the dispersion of oil seed flour before clay or otherpigments are incorporated, the mixture instead of thickening up, becomesmore fluid. and furthermore, the water glass in such connection is found40 to very greatly reduce the amount of oil seed flour necessary to bindthe pigments as applied to the paper.

While rosin soap was formerly used as an ingredient to some extent inplywood and veneer glues, it has been impossible to incorporate it inoil seed flour mixtures for wall paperwork. for the reason that it also,like water glass, resulted in a thickening of the mixture to suchgelatinous condition that it would not work in wall paper printingmachinery. In the present invention however, the surprising result isobtained that two agents, viz. water glass and soap, which haveheretofore been impossible in wall paper practice with oil seed floursby reason of the thickening or jelling tendency, can now be broughttogether, with strikingly advantageous workability and final properties.And in fact, regardless of prior known agents individually a novelmanufacture of ornamental products with oil seed flour and water glass,or oil seed flour and amounts of soap prima facie apparently impossiblein printing application, are had. In proceeding in accordance with theinvention, an oil seed flour, as from the solids after removal of oil,for instance soya bean flour, preferably a flour which has not been toohighly heated, is employed, for example one which when made up insuitable dispersion will show viscosity of 125 or less and preferablyless than 100 on a MacMichael viscometer using a #30 wire, 20 R. P. M.and a inch bob immersed to a depth of inch. That is, for such a test thedispersion is made up by mixing soya bean flour with water at the rateof one hundred pounds to three hundred pounds of water at 85 F., withstirring out ,of lumps, then adding one gallon of 26 B. am-- monia andstirring fifteen minutes, and then adding one gallon of pine oil andstirring five minutes.

Proceeding then in accordance with the invention the oil seed flour ismade up with suflicient water, stirring to a smooth suspension, thensoap dissolved in water is added and the mixture stirred thoroughly. Thesoap is preferably a fatty acid soap of an alkali, such as sodium,potassium, or ammonium. Less desirably, naphthenic and rosin soaps maybe employed. After the incorporation of the soap, preferably a smallamount of pine oil is thoroughly stirred in. And, the mixture isincorporated with a suspension of clay or the like in water, this beingthe usual paper coating clays or kaolin, and other pigments, theparticular color desired in the mixture depending upon the particularprinting effect, and among other white pigments may be included to agreater or less extent, talc, lithopone, zinc oxide, etc., and coloredpigments, umber, carbon black, lakes, etc. After all has been thoroughlyincorporated and mixed, water glass is added. This may be for instance asodium silicate of 3.25 SiO2/1Na2O ratio desirably, although it is notcritical, and it may be supplied by diluting stock of 40 Baum, more orless. Further tinting colors may be incorporated if desired. The amountof water glass incorporated may vary, depending upon the particularfinished product in view, and may be three per cent or more based on theflour, to one hundred per cent or more, as desired. In some instances,instead of the water glass, in whole or part, other agents may beemployed less desirably, but in every case after the clay or the like isincorporated with the oil seed flour, and among such agents may be forinstance trisodium phosphate, sodium carbonate, borax, caustic soda,ammonia, ethylenediamine, triethaniolamine, tetra alkyl ammoniumhydroxide, etc., in general in molecularly equivalent amounts to thesodium silicate. And, the sodium silicate and such enumerated agents mayfor convenience, be designated conditioning agents. The amount of soapemployed may be over five per cent, and in general up to twenty percent, and preferably about ten per cent. And lessening the amount ofwater glass below the amounts indicated above as preferred, necessitatesin general the raising of the amount of the oil seed flour incompensation to obtain a desirable binder action with regard to themixture and the paper; while a lessening of the amount of soap below theamounts indicated above as preferred, tends to lessen the waterresistance of the finished product. That is, such preferred statedamounts yield products having a water resistance heretofore unknown inthis type of article. In some instances, instead of adding a soap assuch, the oil seed flour may be dispersed with a. caustic soda solutionand a soap-making fatty acid may be added to the mixture.

As illustrating the full procedure then, for example for each hundredpounds of dry soya bean flour, three hundred pounds of water isemployed, the flour being stirred therein to a smooth suspension, thenten pounds of a sodium tallow soap dissolved in one hundred pounds ofwater is added and the mixture stirred. Preferably, one gallon of pineoil is then added. As soon as the latter is thoroughly stirred in, themixture is incorporated with the clay or other pigments, at the rate ofone hundred sixty-five pounds of suspension containing one hundredpounds of dry clay or the like and sixty-five pounds of water, to eachthirty pounds of the aforesaid mixture (corresponding to about sixpounds of dry soya bean flour) After the whole is thoroughly intermixed,six pounds of 40 B. water glass diluted with eighteen pounds of waterare added and thoroughly mixed, and further tinting colors may be added.This mixture is now applied to the paper stock, for instance with thecustomary wall paper printing machines. Preferably the ground is printedon the paper, and in turn the final designs. If it is desired to make anon-washable paper product, the soap 7 as above-noted may be substitutedby ammonia or other alkali and the procedure followed. If this then wereto be treated with hardening agents, it would not go over into anextremely satisfactory washable wall paper. On the other hand, whenincluding the soap, and hardenin the paper as described hereinafter,superior washing qualities are obtained. Employing the preferred soapsof the fatty acids of higher molecular weight, as for instance those ofcotton seed, tallow, etc., for the final hardening while formaldehydemay in some instances be used,

a solution of an aluminum salt is preferable.

This may be prepared from aluminum sulphate and then with relation by anacid ion, preferably for instance sodium acetate or formate.

Thus, the printed paper. may be treated in a hardening solution of twoand a half pounds of aluminum sulphate and one pound of sodium acetateto each one hundred pounds of water, and the finished printed paper isfinally dried. In cases where desired, the fabric employed, instead ofbeing a felted fabric like paper, may be a woven textile fabric.

Paper printed, thus employing water glass, soap and a basic aluminumsalt, as aluminum acetate, is not only particularly easily manufactured,printing in a mannerv not expected with such an ingredient as soya beanflour, but yielding a very superior washability, almost approaching thatof the order of oil cloth. At the same time, the cost of manufacture, ascompared with prior practices, involves such advantageous savings as tofacilitate preparation of washable papers almost as cheaply as thecommon non-washable type.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed,change being made as regards the details described, provided thefeatures stated in any of the following claims,

or the equivalent of such, be employed.

2. Wall ornamenting material comprising a cellulosic 'sheetbase layerand ornamentation thereon of pigment and reaction products ofwater-dispersed oil seed material and fatty acid soap and Water glass,and a hardening-reactant.

3. Ornamental sheet material comprising a cellulosic sheet base layerand ornamentation thereon of pigment and products of water-dispersed oilseed material and fatty acid soap and water glass, and a. hardeningagent.

4. Ornamental sheet material comprising a cellulosic sheet base layerand ornamentation thereon which does not destroy pliancy of the cel uloe and w ch c ud Pigment and D which comprises facing cellulosic sheetmaterial ucts of water-dispersed oil seed material and fatty acid soap.

5. Ornamental sheet cellulosic material, comprising a cellulosic baselayer and ornamentation thereon which does not destroy pliancy of thecellulose and which includes pigment and prod- .ucts of water-dispersedoil seed material and thereon of products of water-dispersed oil seedmaterial and a conditioning agent.

7. A process of making washable wallpaper, which comprises printing on apaper base layer a ground and a design of pigment and reaction productsof oil seed material in water with fatty acid soap and water glass, andsubjecting the surface tothe action of a hardening reactant.

8. A process of making washable wallpapeh' which comprises printing on apaper base layer ornamentation of pigment and reaction products of oilseed material in water with fatty acid soap, and subjecting the surfaceto the action of a hardening reactant.

9. A process of making ornamental fabric, which comprises printing oncellulosic sheet ma.- terial ornamentation of products formed by oilseed material in water with fatty acid soap and pigment and water glass.

10. A process of making ornamental fabric,

and preserving pliancy therein by applying products of oil seed materialin water with soap and pigment successively incorporated.

11. A process ofmaking ornamental. fabric, which comprises facingcellulosic sheet material and preserving pliancy therein by applyingproducts of oil. seed material in water with pigment and water glasssuccessively incorporated.

FREDERICK V. LOFGREN.

